October 29,1885. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
873 
29 
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Continuation of Pear Congress at Chiswick 
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Twemy-second Sunday after Trinity. 
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Southampton, Lambeth, and Ealing Shows. 
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Brixton Crysanthemum Show. 
THE ORIGIN OF ENGLISH POTATOES. 
S is well known to readers of horticultural and 
agricultural literature Lord Catkcart has long 
taken a deep and active interest in the improve¬ 
ment and cultivation of the Potato. At his lord¬ 
ship’s instigation Mr. Baker of Kew undertook a 
review of the tuber-bearing species of Solanum, 
which was embodied in an admirable and ex¬ 
haustive paper read by him at a meeting of the 
Linnean Society on January ljth, 1884. “ What 
Lord Cathcart asked for,” Mr. Baker observed, “ were any 
suggestions that a botanist might give, founded on his know¬ 
ledge of the Potato plant and its geographical distribution, 
that were likely to be of practical value to cultivators.” 
After a critical examination of twenty so-called species of 
tuber-yielding Solanums, Mr. Baker could only regard six of 
them “ as possessing a fair claim to be considered as distinct 
species in a broad sense,” the majority of the others being re¬ 
garded as forms of S. tuberosum, from which in his opinion “ all 
the numerous varieties of Potatoes in cultivation originated.” 
The six species, each having its own climatic peculiarities, are 
S. tuberosum, S. Maglia, S. cardiophyllum, S. Commersoni 
(syn. Ohrondi), S. Jamesi, and S. oxycarpum. In his 
remarks on these the prospective value of S. Maglia as a 
seed parent was first pointed out in the following words :— 
“As far as climate is concerned it cannot be doubted that 
Solanum Maglia would be better fitted to succeed in England 
and Ireland than S. tuberosum, a plant of a comparatively 
dry climate.” 
The differing characters of the two species, S. tuberosum 
and S. Maglia, were concisely and lucidly explained by Mr. 
Arthur W. Sutton in a letter which appeared in the Times, and 
was reproduced in this Journal, page 523, vol. ix., December 
11th, 1884 :—“ Solanum Maglia was discovered by Darwin 
in the Ghonos Archipelago, and is remarkable as having for 
its habit at low-lying marshy places near the coast, whereas 
S. tuberosum, from which the cultivated Potato springs, is a 
native of the higher Andes, where rain is almost unknown.” 
From these facts the following practical deductions were drawn 
—“ As in a wet summer and autumn the Potato disease is 
invariably much more virulent, while in a dry season its 
ravages are reduced to a minimum, it has been thought that 
the constitutional aversion of S. tuberosum to wet has 
probably induced its susceptibility to disease. On the other 
hand, it is hoped that the preference shown by S. Maglia 
for a damp soil and moist climate may lead to its being a 
parent of a new race of parents far more suitable to the 
climate of the British Isles.” 
With that object Lord Cathcart, determining to profit in 
the best manner available, from the suggestions of Mr. 
Baker, sent tubers of S. Maglia and S. Jamesi to Reading in 
March of last year, and Mr. Sutton also obtained examples 
of S. Ohrondi (Commersoni) from M. Blanchard of Brest. 
All these were well grown, and though every effort was made 
to cross the two latter with cultivated varieties of Potatoes, 
the essential differences between the plants were so great 
No. 279. --Vol. XT., Thied Series. 
that the attempt failed. But what is of more practical 
importance, three fully developed berries filled with seed 
were obtained from S. Maglia as the result of fertilisation 
with a variety raised by Mr. R. Fenn, and not yet in commerce. 
Though S. Maglia has been grown at Kew for upwards of 
twenty years, and two tubers of it were sent by Mr. Cald- 
cleugh to the Horticultural Society’s Gardens at Chiswick in 
1823, and gave a yield of about 600, no instance is known of 
the species producing seed before. What may be the out¬ 
come of the Reading success it is impossible to anticipate. 
The results are already most encouraging, and may be of 
far-reaching importance. Lord Cathcart and Mr. Baker 
cannot fail to be gratified by the produce of the Maglia seeds, 
and they share the honour with Mr. Arthur Sutton in pro¬ 
ducing one of the most remarkable collections of Potatoes 
that has ever been arranged for examination. 
From the seeds referred to twenty-eight plants were raised, 
and the produce of these plants, with representative examples 
of S. Maglia, S. Jamesi, S. Commersoni, and S. tuberosum, 
are systematically displayed in one of the offices in Messrs. 
Sutton’s trial grounds. Baize-covered tabling is fixed round 
the sides of the building, divided with laths into as many 
compartments as there are varieties and species for occupying 
them, the first twenty-eight being the Maglia seedlings. 
When these are examined, and it is remembered they are the 
produce of one species fertilised by one variety, a feeling of 
wonder can scarcely be suppressed at the extraordinary diver¬ 
sity of the progeny. There is a family likeness, more or less 
marked, between some of them, yet all differ, and in many 
instances the dissimilarity is extraordinary ; and, further, all 
differ from the parent Maglia as represented in a heap at the 
end of the room. It is purplish red in colour, the tubers, 
which may be described as of fair table size, being the reverse 
of uniform in shape. Some are nearly round, others more 
or less irregularly oval; some twice as long as they are wide, 
others knobbed and of no describable shape. They have deep 
eyes, and, on the whole, have a coarse appearance rather than 
otherwise ; but their starchy quality is indicated by the rough 
or crackled skin. They are very dense, cook beautifully white 
and mealy, and the quality is superior to that of numbers of 
varieties in cultivation. It may be stated here that although 
only one cross was effected last year, this year Mr. Sutton 
has succeeded in crossing Maglia with three varieties of 
admitted excellence—Reading Russet, Walker’s Regent, and 
Paterson’s Victoria. 
The seedlings, now on view appear to have inherited the 
rough skin of Maglia, that is all. It is true some of them are 
coloured; but not one of these has deep eyes like the parent, 
but are as symmetrical as could be desired, while the few that 
follow it somewhat in shape have rejected its colour and are 
white. In hybridising it is customary to have regard to form 
and habit in the seed-bearing parent, and to rely on the pollen- 
bearer for imparting other qualities; but here the form and 
character of Maglia are practically lost, and the dissimilarity 
in the growth of the plants is as great as in the configuration 
of the tubers, while the divergences in ripening and weight of 
produce are equally great. 
The stems varied from 12 inches to 75 inches in height; 
the period of ripening extended over three months, the earliest 
being lifted at the end of June, the later varieties the end of 
September, and the yield ranged between 6 grains as the 
lightest weight from one plant to 2 lbs. 12| ozs. the heaviest. 
It should be stated the seed was sown in March of the present 
year, the seedlings potted, and the whole of them planted out 
on June 11th. The smallest tubers are not larger than peas, 
the largest (only one) of good size for table, the majority 
ranging between the size of Damsons and Victoria Plums, 
those of one variety (No. 14) being the colour of that Plum. 
There are forty-three of them, weighing 1 lb. 7i ozs., and the 
plant grew 54 inches high. It is noticeable that the taller 
the plants the later they were in maturing, and the heavier 
the yield. For instance, No 13 grew 54 inches high, produc- 
No. 1935.— Vol. LXXIII., Old Series. 
